Japanese Breakfast returned to Austin this past weekend to perform an ACL late night show at Stubb’s Amphitheater a day before their set at the festival.
It definitely seems like Off Record Blog cannot get enough of Japanese Breakfast this year! To be fair, Jbrekkie has been on a roll – surprise appearances at South by Southwest, their very first ACL Live Taping, musical guests on Saturday Night Live. As of late, they recently opened for legendary bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Paramore, so we were extremely grateful to catch their ACL late night show.
Opening for Japanese Breakfast was the band DEHD, a three-piece indie rock band who was also featured on the Austin City Limits 2022 lineup. They got the crowd started with tracks like ”Bad Love” and “Twenty.” Japanese Breakfast took the stage about 30 minutes after DEHD’s set, and started off with songs “Paprika” and “Be Sweet” from their album Jubilee. Throughout the night, they played numerous songs from their first two albums Psychopomp and Soft Sounds From Another Planet, which everyone absolutely loved. According to lead singer Michelle Zauner, the last time the band was in Austin, their van set on fire – they expressed how happy they were to be playing their last US headline show in the city where they really had their start. Everyone was swaying to the dreamy yet melancholic sounds from songs like “Road Head” and “The Body is a Blade.”
One of the best parts of the concert was their performance of “Glider” from the indie video game SABLE, which Zauner explained that the soundtrack was a nice change of pace away from the personal aspects of the band’s music. Japanese Breakfast also played the song “Boyish,” which is considered a Little Big League song (Zauner’s previous band), which touches upon her experiences as an underappreciated waitress. Their encore consisted of “Posing for Cars” from Jubilee and “Diving Woman” from Soft Sounds From Another Planet – an intimate and juxtaposing song combination to wind down the night.
Throughout the show, Zauner embraced her personal connections to the songs on the setlist, making the experience all the more wholesome. No one in the band was ever static, and always made sure to interact with fans and dance around stage when most appropriate. While the band has been playing almost the same set of songs since the start of their Jubilee tour run, the show’s atmosphere is really what takes the cake. Japanese Breakfast makes sure to create a soothing environment with touching moments in between, and no one can resist a jubilous show (pun intended).
Check out photos from the show:
I'm a full-time music journalist/photographer from Houston, number one Paramore fan and Husky dog owner. I have a B.S in Radio-Television-Film from UT Austin and a M.A in Mass Communications from the University of Houston, which makes me smart! On top of being an avid concert-goer and movie fanatic, I love bonding with others over the power of local music and media.
